Gang of Fools by James Smith III
Debuted at MoCCA: Collected: F.o.N.'s James Smith III's webcomic Gang of Fools. Aditi's got one week to come up with the ten grand for the month's rent! A wild skate ride into the wacky world we are currently barreling towards, where everyone has a Q rating, lives a life even more infused with technology, and speaks in a rich thieves' cant of the future. Neilalien wants to know: Where's his single-use LSD license, Mutafikah?

Unpleasant People #1 by Holly Foltz
A charming sword-and-sorcery-parody mini-comic about that creep Lord Zoloft and his poor organizational skills. From a twisted mind only the state of Vermont could spawn. ;)

Neilalien had the great pleasure of chatting once again with Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme writer and good dude David Quinn- his The Littlest Bitch: A Not-for-Children Children's Book is now out. Quinn laughed that he has more plans for conquering many other contradictory low-commercial-viability literary micro-niches like not-for-children children's books.

Neilalien met Miguel Guerra at MoCCA this year, a man who lives in the future where one can surf the internet on one's phone. Guerra warned that his new project Superhero, Inc. is coming soon- which sounded like a rich vein of story to be mined combining superpowers and corporate power. We'll be watching! [Iberian Press] [Art of Guerra on Facebook]

Previous Faves Update: Cragmore by Pat Lewis continues to do everything possible to avoid eternal damnation in Books Two and Three.

Previous Faves Update: More crime vignettes from writer/designer Eric Skillman in Egg #2, and many other new books and projects. [his Cozy Lummox blog]

Sorry Neilalienistas, but no Doctor Strange art this year. :( Becky Cloonan was on the signage to do MoCCA-supporting sketches on Saturday, which would have meant an awesome sketch, but as far as Neilalien could tell she was never at the sketching table. Ah well. MoCCA didn't get a donation, Neilalien saved some moolah.

All in all, another great MoCCA Festival! Neilalien hasn't been to one yet that didn't completely refill his tank with comics-love gasoline. Moving the show from June to April messed with Neilalien's circadian rhythms, but it makes for a good chance to avoid the stifling heat that haunted last year, and had come up occasionally at the Puck Building too. If there was one dominant conversation meme of this year's show, however, it was again negative: the table prices are getting too high for the small individual exhibitor, many of whom expressed they wouldn't be returning next year. MoCCA- please do not lose your creator-with-a-photocopier feel! Or you risk turning these annual Faves of MoCCA Neilalien blogposts into Faves of The Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival ones.

Actually, Sara Wolfe was originally intended to be... Carol Danvers. After MS. MARVEL was canceled, Chris Claremont figured that he would just make Carol a supporting character in Doctor Strange's book. After reading Chris' plot, editor Jo Duffy asked me if I -- as editor of the AVENGERS titles -- had approved this. I replied, "Why...no." So we made sure that the woman who ran into Doc in DOC #38 looked as different from Carol as possible. Thus was born Sara Wolfe.

It feels wrong, and tipping-point risking, that in a recession, in a world awash with cheap entertainment and piracy, that more narrative-exhausted superhero comic singles cost up to $3.99 than ever before [Comics Reporter]

Update/Recent Related: Comic Titans Are in the Grips of the Dreaded Inflationist [New York Times]

Pirated comics are mostly the Marvel and DC, the same demographic as the Direct Market shop, the weekly addicts do the scanning; on considering 'faux piracy' to get one's indie work out there, anything vs. the withering obscurity [Warren Ellis]

Spider-Man: Fever #1
Neilalien finds the book very fun to look at- maybe a bit too-odd-stiff-for-odd-stiff's-sake by half- but the dialogue is jarringly bad. But he's in for the three issues, and other reviewers have been kinder, so another chance it will get. Reviews collected as found:

A gayed-up Doctor Strange judges Harry Potter on last night's Ugly Americans episode "Treegasm" on Comedy Central [BlueXeal]
At about the 2 minute 45 second mark: "You call this a potion? More like SNOREcery." [thanks Howard!]

Marvel Studios is wrapping up a deal for Joss Whedon to helm The Avengers [Variety]

NYC's own real-world superheroes [New York Post]
Dark Guardian "waited until a little bit into the relationship" before telling his now fiancee. The Staten Islander has almost come to blows with thugs.

Back issues making a comeback in one comic shop after successful initial experiment [Forbidden Planet] [via Comics Reporter]
Ebay disappeared the back-issue bin from comic shops- now growing dissatisfaction with that online venue (bad dealings; it's now more expensive on Ebay after postage) is a factor.

Neilalien fave Captain Britain And MI13 nominated for Hugo Award now after its cancellation [Bleeding Cool]

Reading Marvel comics with iPad app "take[s] the joyous, marvellous sharing and bonding experience of comic reading and turn[s] it into a passive, lonely undertaking that isolates, rather than unites" [Boing Boing]

Stan Lee Media suit against Stan Lee and Marvel dismissed on various technicalities [Variety]
The suit had charged that Lee improperly transferred any rights he had re: Spider-Man, etc., from SLM to Marvel in 01998.

Blackest Night generates only sighs, headaches, and action figures [Trouble With Comics review]
And they brought Deadman back from the dead? Purpose, meet defeat. No longer a ghost able to possess people's bodies to fight crime, Boston Brand now drives a bus in Tallahassee.

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